The Malaysian state boasts of economic buoyancy and political stability as one of the later, albeit smaller dragons to emerge in Southeast Asia, yet one which at first glance is not the authoritarian regime of Pinochet, for example.

Understanding the nature of the state is the focus of this book: first, from a theoretical point of view to suggest that authoritarian populism is the most appropriate analytical concept with which to address this question, but also from a human rights perspective of class-based communal policies and the prolonged use of detention without trial. The serious consequences for the health democracy and the participatory rights of the people are spelled out at many different levels.

1. Failing Western economies often talk of imitating the Eastern approach to development. However, it is clear from this account that the outcome for the health of democracy and the rights of the people is not necessarily positive.